The Arizona State Legislature on Wednesday devolved into shouts of “Shame! Shame!” as Republican lawmakers quickly shut down discussion on a proposed repeal of the state’s newly revived 1864 law that criminalizes abortion throughout pregnancy unless a woman’s life is at risk.
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for enforcement of the pre-statehood law.
Arizona abortion providers on Wednesday vowed to continue service until they are forced to stop, possibly within weeks.
Photo: AP
State legislators convened as pressure mounted from Democrats and some Republicans, including former US president Donald Trump, for them to intervene.
House Democrats and at least one Republican tried to open discussion on a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban, which holds no exceptions for rape or incest. Republican leaders, who command the majority, cut it off twice and quickly adjourned for the week.
Outraged Democrats erupted in finger-waving chants of “Shame, Shame.”
Photo: AP
Republican Arizona Representative Teresa Martinez said there was no reason to rush the debate.
She accused Democrats of “screaming at us and engaging in extremist and insurrectionist behavior on the House floor.”
The Republican-led Senate briefly convened without debate on abortion.
“We are navigating an extremely complex, emotional and important area of law and policy,” said Martinez, the Republican House whip. “In my opinion, removing healthy babies from healthy mothers is not healthcare nor reproductive care. Pregnancy is not an illness. It should be celebrated. It is an abortion that terminates life.”
Democratic legislators seized on national interest in the state’s abortion ban.
“We’ve got the eyes of the world watching Arizona right now,” said Democratic Arizona Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton said. “We know that the Supreme Court decision yesterday is extreme. And we know that should the 1864 ban on abortion remain a law in Arizona, people will die.”
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, called inaction on the proposed repeal unconscionable.
“Radical legislators protected a Civil War-era total abortion ban that jails doctors, strips women of our bodily autonomy and puts our lives at risk,” she said.
Three Republican legislators openly oppose the ban, including Representative Matt Gress, who on Wednesday made a motion to repeal the law.
In a statement, he said the near-total ban “is not reflective of the values of the vast majority of our electorate, regardless of political affiliation... This issue transcends all.”
According to AP VoteCast, six out of 10 Arizona voters in the 2022 mid-term elections said they would favor guaranteeing legal abortion nationwide.
The state recorded 11,530 abortions in 2022, the last data available, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
At Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix, where about one-fourth of Arizona abortions are performed, registered nurse Ashleigh Feiring said abortion services were still available and that staff hope emergency legislation would avoid interruptions or closure.
“Our plan is to stay open as long as possible,” Feiring said. “Our clinic has been shut down twice in the last four years, but we’ve always resumed service.”
At the same time, anti-abortion groups — including SBA Pro-Life America — urged Arizona residents to oppose a proposed ballot initiative aimed at placing abortion rights in Arizona’s state constitution.
“They would wipe away all pro-life laws put in place by the Legislature, reflective of the will of the people,” SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
However, Hobbs predicted that outrage would motivate voters to enshrine abortion rights directly in state law.
“The fight is not over, for sure” she said.
Grace Harders on Wednesday drove around metro Phoenix looking for an opportunity to sign an abortion rights petition. She said she would not know what to do if she had an unplanned pregnancy, but knew she would be scared.
“I’m a pro-choice person, and I want to ensure the right for all women,” Harders said.
Abortion rights advocates said they have gathered more than 500,000 signatures for the petition from the Arizona for Abortion Access campaign — far above what they need to add a ballot question asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion until viability, when a fetus could survive outside the womb.
Arriving for a campaign fundraiser in Atlanta, Trump said the Arizona court decision went too far and called on state lawmakers to change it even as he defended the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“It’s all about states’ rights,” the former president told supporters and journalists. “It’ll be straightened out.”
The Arizona ruling suggests doctors can be prosecuted for performing the procedure. The 1864 law carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for doctors or anyone else who assists in an abortion.
“Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal,” the Arizona Supreme Court said in its decision, adding that additional criminal and regulatory sanctions may apply to abortions performed after 15 weeks, the state’s previous time limit for the procedure.
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